Although the decision deadline was meant to be today (Friday), the Government agency needed more time to decide on the application, which covers emissions from the proposed plant on the Slyfield Green industrial estate.

However, the company behind the plan, Thames Waste Management, applied for the licence under legislation that has since been superseded and the company will need to apply a second time to the agency for permission to operate the plant.

Phil Heaton, the Environment Agency's process industries team leader, said TWM would need to apply for an IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) application even after gaining an IPC (Integrated Pollution Control) licence to operate the plant on the Slyfield Green industrial estate. TWM submitted its application a month before the law changed to require operators to apply for IPPC.

The time limit for granting the IPC licence has now passed, but was extended to allow further technical work, he said. "They can't turn it on (the incinerator) until they get IPPC," said Mr Heaton, adding that it took four to six months for the agency to consider the new standard. Surrey Waste Management has withdrawn IPC applications for incinerators at Capel and Redhill, as the company will apply for the new standard at a later date, he said.

A spokesman for SWM said: "It was decided that as the old standard IPC had little on-going value, in that it no longer gave permission for the operation of a new plant, the company would seek to achieve the new standard."

SWM has submitted a final draft of its IPPC application to the Environment Agency, but it said it would be "prudent" to have the licence approval and planning permission before starting construction.

IPPC was introduced in 1999 and extends the criteria from IPC, although it does not raise standards on emissions.

New areas to be given a greater emphasis include ground condition surveys for the site, noise minimisation, energy efficient practices and prevention of accidents. TWM's application has also been designed to brief Surrey County Council's planning team on the environmental impact of the incinerator, according to TWM spokesman, Ruth Roll. "At the time, TWM were twin-tracking a planning application and IPC application for the Slyfield EfW plant," she said. "Although the IPPC regulations came into force shortly after our IPC submission, the formal application paperwork and guidance had not been produced by the Environment Agency. Our IPC application was submitted with a suitable slant towards the anticipated altered emphasis of PPC."

If TWM gains an IPC licence for Slyfield, the company will wait for planning permission and then apply for IPPC authorisation, as the plant would take two and a half years to build. This would give the company time to compile an IPPC application, she said.